Stock Yards
Stockyards Reviews - Best Online Steaks
As a rule, we do not normally find the best online steaks, at great values, when they are sold at food gifting websites. Our Stockyards review will come to the same conclusion.
About Stock Yards Steaks and Chops Since 1893
Stock Yards was founded in 1893 by the Pollack family and has been providing high-quality, premium meats for over 125 years. The original company was a retail-based butcher shop who focused on providing food service beef to restaurants, hotels, and local clubs. In 1955 they got their claim to fame by being the first company to sell steaks by mail.
- Stock Yards offers high-quality, certified meats including beef, pork, lamb, seafood, burgers, and hot dogs.
- They use both wet aging and dry aging processes. The wet aging process involves Cryovac sealing meat so that it can marinate in the natural juices. Dry aging beef allows meat to sit in a temperature-controlled environment, removing moisture and increasing the beef flavor.
- Stock Yards sells USDA Prime, USDA Choice, and Certified Angus Beef brands products.
- Stock Yards provides its customers with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.
Ribeye served on a bed of Sauteed Diced Potatoes and Steamed String Beans
Our Stock Yards Review
USDA Prime Ribeye - 8 oz. - $21
For a company that claims to be known for being the first to shop gourmet steaks through the mail, someone seems to have forgotten the history of the company. This Ribeye is easily one of the worst Ribeyes we have ever purchased from online steak company.
The steak passed our marbling exam, as there was abundant marbling, but the amount of inedible fat surrounding the flavorless meat made us go the website and double check what we bought. If you are price conscious, you will find other Ribeyes on this website that will be larger and cost about the same, if not less than the ones we bought here. With a think steak like this, you have to be careful not to overcook it, which can be easy to do. For an 8 ounce steak, maybe 40% of it was discarded. This steak was a huge disappointment for us.
Grilled Filet Mignon served with Quinoa and Mult-colored Carrots Steam with Vegetable Broth
USDA Prime Filet Mignon - Complete Trim - 8 oz - $42.50
If we are going to pay $42.50 for a USDA Prime Filet Mignon, it has to be perfect, and even then it would be a flip of the coin decision. We won't have to vacillate too much on our decision to reorder this steak, because it fell well short of expectations.
In fairness to Stockyards, the flavor was there. If that is all you care about, then you are good to go. We found the gourmet trim to be well under the quality standards as shown on the Stockyards website. In our plated picture, you can see how this steak is falling apart a bit. The presentation is a huge element of how this steak is received.
For the most part, you are going to have a hard time picking one USDA Prime Filet Mignon over another. They will all be good. When it comes down to value, price and the trim become the primary considerations, and we felt this one fell short in both areas.
NY Strip served with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts
USDA Prime NY Strip 10 oz - $35
We were pleased to end the day on a positive note with these NY Strip steaks. Mind you; these are at the highest end of our value budget. The marbling may have come just below par, but these steaks won "best-tasting" of the day, and checked many of our boxes for us.
This steak had one fantastic characteristic the others we tried didn't. It was over-the-top juicy, and we hope the pictures in the slideshow at the top of the page capture that for you. Funny how this steak may have had the least marbling, for the type of steak that it is, and the most flavor. The juice in this steak just took it to another level, and by letting it rest a full fifteen minutes, none of that amazing juice bled out on the plate, or worse, into the garlic mashed potatoes.
If these steaks were on sale, we would buy more of them. We would also opt for the larger size since we are now familiar with the quality.
Grilled Porterhouse with Sauteed Purple Potatoes on a bed of Sauteed Onions with Garlic Bok Choy
USDA Choice Porterhouse 16 oz - $33
Given the slow start with Stock Yard steaks, we went back for two more, including this 16 oz. Porterhouse, and it did prove our hunch was correct. Every once in a while you find a company where their USDA Choice steaks are better than their USDA Prime steaks, and I am not referring to a better value, just straight up better. This Porterhouse was one of the best ones we've had, and it ate like it was bigger than 16 oz. We thought $33 was a fair value.
Ours just needed some salt, pepper and a hot grill. On this day it was served to three couples, six people in all, with each person having one. What you see in the picture is exactly how they were served. I let them rest 15 minutes, sliced the NY Strip-side and replated it.
The steak was a perfect medium rare, juicy, and flavorful. For three of my guests, it was their first time having a Porterhouse Steak, so I was happy they were able to experience one of such high pedigree.
Grilled NY Strip with Corn and Roasted Red Peppers and Haricot Verts with Sauteed Mushrooms
USDA Choice NY Strip 12 oz - $25
Once again, our USDA Choice offering was better than our USDA Prime, but this time we can compare the steaks head-to-head to the USDA Prime version which 2 oz smaller and was $10 more. We cooked them both the same, but this steak had a more robust flavor and a softer texture. We also felt the bark was a little more crustier, but we are spitting fine hairs.
The gourmet trimming on this steak was above par too. The nub of inedible fat most companies leave on the side of these steaks was much smaller, and consistent with a steakhouse trim. We just added some salt, pepper, and put it on a hot grill. On the day we taste-tested this steak we also did the Porterhouse and a Prime NY Strip from Creekstone Farms. We feel this steal won for the day, which would give Creekstone its first loss ever.
At $25 this steak is priced about average, and maybe a little bit higher, but we call it a good value because of its huge flavor and its meaty portion size.
Our Conclusion
When you look at the top of the Stockyards website, you see all the gifting companies owned by 1800 Flowers, including Stockyards. Gifting websites are a huge industry, and so are the ones that serve food. Back in the day, Omaha Steaks helped put themselves on the map with corporate gift boxes.
The people that buy steaks for others are generally not going to be the same people who purchase steaks for their consumption, especially the repeat buyers. The gift buyer is not likely to be as knowledgeable as the online steak buyer. They may be inclined to use the price of the steaks, along with beautiful pictures and descriptions to help them decide on what they will buy. As a result, you'll see very expensive priced steaks listed individually, with gift boxes of various steaks priced less for a higher order size.
Another side of the steak gifting business is that the buyer isn't going to eat the steak, and the receiver isn't likely to tell the buyer if they were disappointed, as to not insult them.
We are not on a mission to send our Dads a box of high priced steaks. We buy steaks online regularly, and value has to fit into the equation for us to make multiple purchases from an online vendor. And if we do send someone we know a few boxes of steaks, we buy from the better-valued companies because we know when can get more significantly sized cuts for the same money.
We felt we had the right to call their customer service and ask for a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee refund on two of the three steaks we purchased from Stockyards, primarily based on the value of what we received for the price we paid, and how the product was presented on the company website. In our opinion, it was the classic over-promise and under-deliver.
Customer service was very understanding and offered to replace our steaks, which we accepted. Instead of USDA Prime, they sent us USDA Choice Porterhouse and NY Strip Steaks. We felt they were both delicious and the Choice NY Strip was better than the Prime NY Strip. You can save your money and go with the USDA Choice products if you like, you'll get larger steak sizes for less money, and in our experience with this company, that adds up to good value.
Kevin Bouchard
BestOnlineReviews.com
Submitted Customer Experiences
I bought the Ribeye. Descent to good flavor. Meat is not very tender. Marbling doesn't make a tender steak. Not worth the price.
-Jon
California
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Additional References
- What is Marbling? - Best Online Steaks Blog
- USDA Certified Beef Programs - Companies certified with the USDA for the type and quality beef they sell. Stockyards is listed.
- Stock Yards Website